MUMBAI CITY NEWS: The shop owner, Mehmoood Pathan, 69, and his two sons Irfan, 25, and Tavakkal, 20, were arrested and remanded in police custody till May 23.

The officer said that the children were in a state of shock when they came to the police station and were crying. (HT)

Two children, aged eight and nine, were allegedly beaten up, stripped, tonsured, garlanded with a string of shoes and paraded for stealing two chaklis from a shop at Ulhasnagar on Sunday as they could not control their hunger.

The shop owner, Mehmood Pathan, 69, and his two sons Irfan, 25, and Tavakkal, 20, were arrested and remanded in police custody till May 23. The children’s mother, who is a widow, works as a domestic help.

“As children’s mother was away, to quench their hunger, they took two chaklis, which were barely worth Rs 2, from a jar in the shop and ate them. When Mehmoood came to know about it, he was furious and slapped them. He also called his sons to teach the children a lesson,” said an officer from Hill Line police station.

The three then took the children to a barber’s shop to shaved their heads, stripped them naked and assaulted them, said the officer. They garlanded the children with shoes and paraded them in Ulhasnagar’s camp no.5.

“Instead of rescuing or helping them, the onlookers were busy recording the incident on their phones. After sharing these videos on WhatsApp and other online platforms, the videos became viral,” said the officer.

The children were allegedly threatened and subjected to casteist remarks.They narrated their ordeal to their mother who filed a complaint against the shop owner and his two sons.

The officer said that the children were in a state of shock when they came to the police station and were crying.

“ The three men also shot videos and circulated them on WhatsApp. The kids were paraded for 200 meters. It is shocking that local residents did not intervene,” said Mohan Waghmare, senior inspector of Hill Line police station.

The three men have been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the POCSO Act and Sections 355, 500, 323, 34 of the Indian Penal Code.